Four Stages of Car Seats

24 Aug Four Stages of Car Seats

Car seats can be a slightly more complex issue than parent’s initially assume. Buying a car chair is not about finding the prettiest one or the cheapest, or most expensive, there is a lot more to consider. Before deciding on which car seat you are going to settle on, it is important to bare the 4 stages of car seat safety in mind.

What exactly are the four stages?

Rear Facing Seats

Research now shows that children should ideally be in a rearward facing car seat from birth up to the age of four years old.

Relative to the rest of their bodies a baby’s head is large and the only thing that connects their head to their body is their neck, which is still made up of cartilage. What this means is that if you are in a front on collision and your baby is in front facing seat, their head will be thrown forward and their neck will not be able to handle the impact causing severe harm to your child. If they are in a rearward facing seat, the impact is more evenly spread.

It is also very important to take not of the weight restrictions on your first rearward facing infant seat. Once your child reaches the weight stated, you need to move them to the next size chair, also rearward facing.

Forward Facing Seats

Once your child has reached the correct age and weight requirements you can move them to a forward facing seat. When moving them to the forward facing seat it is extremely important to ensure you install the seat correctly and that the straps are positioned correctly.

Belt Positioning Booster

Children can stay in these booster seats until they are at least 12 years old but before you move your child over to one of these, they do need to be mature enough to know they have to stay buckled up the entire trip. It is important to check that every time your child puts their seat belt on that they are positioning it correctly.

It must not cut their neck but rather across their torso and must touch the top of their thighs. It is also important to ensure that they do have head support once they are in a backless booster seat.

Seatbelt Only

When you remove all booster seats, it is still essential that your child understand how important it is to use their seat belt every single time they are in any vehicle.

Your child must sit right up against the seat with their feet placed on the floor. The belt must not cut across their face or their neck, if you cannot get the seatbelt to position correctly then you may need to still use the booster seat until they are taller.

Cool Kids’ Cabs takes car seat safety very seriously and all their children are transported in age appropriate car seats, provided by Cool Kids Cabs, so there is no need to worry about dropping car seats off with your child. Teens and older children will always wear their seat belts and our drivers are all regularly trained in car seat safety, so they will check that seat belts and car seat straps are correctly fastened.